The trip where everything tastes amazing, ESPECIALLY the F&G booths!-"Best of" Awards

[tammilynne]

Subscribing!

Love the reviews so far!

 

[librarygeek]

Appetizers with dessert is how I'd like to do most WDW TS restaurants. A fair number of places don't have any entrees that seem worth the calories.

Although that penne dish looks pretty good, actually.

I know what you mean - I'm definitely an appetizer/dessert sort of girl, which is why the dining plan isn't generally a good deal for us!

Subscribing!

Love the reviews so far!

Thanks! So glad to have you along!

 

[wilma-bride]

That dessert at Mam Melrose looks amazing. Italian is really not my thing but I also would like to try the flatbread there. It certainly looks like there was plenty of food to go around.

 

[librarygeek]

That dessert at Mam Melrose looks amazing. Italian is really not my thing but I also would like to try the flatbread there. It certainly looks like there was plenty of food to go around.

Yes there was! And that dessert was sooo good. I wish I could have another right now!

 

[librarygeek]

Ugh!! I wrote out the whole next post and then accidentally closed the window!! So frustrating I'll probably rewrite it tonight or tomorrow, but I can't do it right now because I get too frustrated when that happens to go directly back to it. But very soon I will be posting about the Flower and Garden booths!

 

[wilma-bride]

Ugh!! I wrote out the whole next post and then accidentally closed the window!! So frustrating I'll probably rewrite it tonight or tomorrow, but I can't do it right now because I get too frustrated when that happens to go directly back to it. But very soon I will be posting about the Flower and Garden booths!

Ugh, how frustrating. I always write my trip reports/reviews in Word now, then copy and paste.

Looking forward to hearing about the F&G booths

 

[SnwflkCts]

Your pics and reviews are great! Now I am hungry Sorry you lost your last post -- I will look back for more!

 

[librarygeek]

Ugh, how frustrating. I always write my trip reports/reviews in Word now, then copy and paste.

Looking forward to hearing about the F&G booths

Your pics and reviews are great! Now I am hungry Sorry you lost your last post -- I will look back for more!

Thanks! I usually copy it every so often and paste it into a Word doc so I have it, but I didn't do that this time... of course!

 

[wilma-bride]

Thanks! I usually copy it every so often and paste it into a Word doc so I have it, but I didn't do that this time... of course!

Typical

 

[librarygeek]

Flower and Garden Booths - Fruits by the Glass

We decided to snack our way around the world for lunch so we could try a bunch of the flower and garden booths! The first one we cam to was Fruits by the Glass, so why not start with some wine? At the booths everyone had a taste of everything we ordered, though some of us ate more of some items than others.

The first wine we tried was the Mango Mama, a mango wine from Florida Orange Groves:



Not surprisingly, this was sweet - which I like. And it wasn't sickly sweet like some fruity wines can be. I thought it was nice, light, and refreshing. I'd definitely buy a bottle of it if they sold it near me - 8 out of 10.

The other wine we tried there was Blueberry Blue, a blueberry wine also from Florida Orange Groves:



This was also quite good, and also sweet, though not as sweet as a mango. The flavor of the mango won me over just a little bit more, but I would still give this one a 7.5 out of 10.

Overall the Fruits by the Glass booth gets an 8 out of 10. DH and I absolutely love sweet wines, and we like unique fruity flavors so this was perfect for us!

 

[librarygeek]

Flower and Garden Booths - Jardin de Fiestas

Mexico was up next! My dad absolutely loves Mexican food. I can be a little picky with it though, but there are some things I really like.

My parents shared the tacos de Carnitas (Pork carnitas topped with Tamarindo Salsa, served on a flour tortilla with Chicharron):



My mom gave it a 7 out of 10 and said it was "fine." I tried it as well and I agreed with her. It was good, very nice, but there wasn't anything that really wowed me or that was very special about it.

DH and I shared the Tostada de Jaiba (Crab Tostada served with Chipotle Mayo and Valentina Sauce):



Yum! This was phenomenal. I give it a 9.5 out of 10. There was a lot of soft, flavorful, delicious crab. The sauces that went with it worked perfectly, with a hint of spiciness but not enough to overpower the taste of the crab. The tostada part was crisp and delicious. DH gave it a 9 out of 10. He really liked it too, saying he liked it a lot that he was unhappy with having to share it... he also suggested they should make it a full size meal at the quick service place there and he would order it there again! I wish!

My parents also ordered the Rosita Margarita:



My mom loved it, giving it a 9.5 out of 10. She said that it was very good -light, and not overwhelmed by flavor. I have to say that I tried this and enjoyed it way more than I thought I would - given that I don't normally like margaritas! But she was right, the taste wasn't overpowering and the rose flavoring was very unique. And the drink is gorgeous!

Overall the Mexican booth gets a very solid 9 out of 10. A great way to start our eating at the booths!

 

[librarygeek]

Flower and Garden booths - Lotus House

There was not a food booth in Norway (boo!), so China was our next stop. DH and I shared the Spring Pancake with grilled chicken and green apple:



I liked this a lot. I give it an 8 out of 10. It was a pretty big portion for the price, I thought. The green apple gave it a nice, sweet flavor, and whatever sauce was in there was good too. However, I really liked the crunchy noodles inside - I wasn't expecting them, but they gave the dish another layer of texture - even though the apples were fairly crispy, it would've been much more soggy without the noodles. DH's only comment was "good" and he gave it a 7.5 out of 10.

We also had the Kung Fu Punch (vodka and triple sec with mango and orange juice):



Everyone enjoyed this. It was definitely a sweet drink, but as you may be able to tell already I like sweet I think I liked it the most as I ended up drinking most of it. It gets an 8 out of 10 for me. It was one of those fruity drinks that almost taste more like juice than alcohol so you have to be careful with them!

Overall China gets an 8 out of 10. Another great score!

 

[librarygeek]

Flower and Garden Booths - Bauernmarkt

Germany next. My dad is German so I'm 1/2 German, but I've never really liked German food. Still, we decided to stop and try a few things here.

Mom and dad shared the Germany Meatloaf sandwich with sweet mustard and fried shallots:



Mom gave it a 7 out of 10. She said it tasted good but it was much more like sausage than meatloaf. It wasn't really what they were expecting at all. I didn't try it.

DH and I had the potato pancakes with house-made apple sauce:



I figured it would be hard to go wrong with potato pancakes and apple sauce, right? Wrong. The pancakes were made with onion, and my husband has a huge aversion to onion. I also don't care for it but it usually doesn't bother me if it's in a dish. However, the onion flavor in this was strong. Like, all I tasted was onion. Needless to say DH wouldn't touch it. I felt bad because he was the one that wanted to order it so I gave him all the applesauce, which was fine. I ate about half the pancake but did not enjoy it - basically it was like, I paid for this so I'm going to eat some of this. I give it a 3 out of 10.

Overall the German booth was probably the weakest we tried. I'll give it a 5 out of 10. Probably should've gone with the beers instead!

There are a bunch of other booths coming up too, but I'll take a break for now!

 

[pwdebbie]

You have a much better review of BOG than we did. Dh ordered the shrimp and scallops in the pastry and said that there wasn't enough shrimp and scallops and sauce in proportion to the puff pastry, he had over 1/2 the pastry left. I had the pork and mine was dry (so dry I couldn't swallow it) and it also looked and tasted underdone. I only ate half of it. We left there feeling like we had not even eaten dinner.

 

[wilma-bride]

Glad you managed to get the F&G booth reviews done without a hitch

I really hope the China booth is there next year - love the look of the spring pancake and that Kung Fu punch sounds (and looks) great - I love vodka-based drinks

I have seen several photos and reviews of the potato pancake and thought I wouldn't mind trying that but you are the first person to mention the onion. I have a real aversion to onion too so glad you mentioned it otherwise I might have been tempted to get it myself (if they have it next year). Since i know I won't like it, I don't mind now if they don't have it

Glad to know there's more coming up...

 

[vettegirl]

Oh man I knew I should have tried that crab tostada in Mexico. Hopefully next year they have it.

 

[librarygeek]

You have a much better review of BOG than we did. Dh ordered the shrimp and scallops in the pastry and said that there wasn't enough shrimp and scallops and sauce in proportion to the puff pastry, he had over 1/2 the pastry left. I had the pork and mine was dry (so dry I couldn't swallow it) and it also looked and tasted underdone. I only ate half of it. We left there feeling like we had not even eaten dinner.

Wow, that's crazy that your experience was so different! I will admit that there wasn't a ton of shrimp and scallops in the pastry, but I appreciated the fact that it wasn't a huge dish that I wouldn't be able to eat all of. This was my second time at BoG and the first time was just as good. Sorry you didn't have as good an experience there!

Glad you managed to get the F&G booth reviews done without a hitch

I really hope the China booth is there next year - love the look of the spring pancake and that Kung Fu punch sounds (and looks) great - I love vodka-based drinks

I have seen several photos and reviews of the potato pancake and thought I wouldn't mind trying that but you are the first person to mention the onion. I have a real aversion to onion too so glad you mentioned it otherwise I might have been tempted to get it myself (if they have it next year). Since i know I won't like it, I don't mind now if they don't have it

Glad to know there's more coming up...

I know... onion is in so much and so many people like it that they don't mention it. But I have a husband who thinks onions are his mortal enemy and I don't care for it myself. So that's one thing that I'm always on the look out for.

Oh man I knew I should have tried that crab tostada in Mexico. Hopefully next year they have it.

I hope they have it again too, I would love to have more of it!

 

[librarygeek]

Flower and Garden Booths - Primavera Kitchen

Italy was our next stop! It was really hot out this day and we were looking for anywhere we could find some shade!

This was the place that had the dish my mom was looking forward to most of all: the Asparagi con Aragosta all'Ortolana (Green Asparagus, Lobster, Garden Cocktail Sauce):



She absolutely loved this and gave it a 10 out of 10. Lobster and asparagus are basically her two favorite things, so I'm not surprised. There were two big chunks of lobster, though she wished there was a little more. The sauce was also delicious. I had a bite too and it was certainly tasty!

The other item we tried here was the Strawberry Rossini:



It was nice, and I appreciated a cool drink in the heat, but it was quite as sweet as I was hoping or expecting. I would give it a 7 out of 10. Good, but not one of my favorites of the drinks I had.

Overall Italy was a hit! We'd give it an 8.5 out of 10!

 

[librarygeek]

Flower and Garden Booths - Hanami

We walked past the US booth and stopped to get a stamp in our passports, but nothing there really appealed to us so we moved on to Japan. This was one of the ones that I'd been looking forward to the most.

DH got the Chirashi Hanazushi (grilled salmon, cooked shrimp and crab stick, over a bed of fragrant ginger rice with volcano and dynamite sauce):



I was really hoping we could split this, but DH didn't want to share We love seafood and spicy sauces, so this seemed right up our alley. The one or two bites I had were absolutely phenomenal. DH gave it a 9.5 out of 10. Volcano and dynamite sauce are two of his favorites and so you could probably put them on almost anything and he'd love it - but with the tasty seafood it was super good.

I also got the frushi (Fresh strawberries, pineapple and cantaloupe, rolled with Coconut rice, atop a raspberry sauce sprinkled with toasted coconut and whipped cream):



This was sweet and fruity and everything I liked. The toasted coconut also added another layer of texture which was nice. The rice had a very subtle coconut flavor. And the raspberry sauce was delicious, I wish there was more of that! Overall I give it a 9 out of 10.

I have to say that Japan was probably my favorite booth (just barely beating Mexico!), getting a 9.5 out of 10!

 

[librarygeek]

Flower and Garden Booths - Taste of Marrakesh

We were getting a bit full of food by this point, and aware that dinner was only about two hours away, but my mom wanted to try the Spiced Lamb Kebab with Vegetable Couscous Salad:



She enjoyed this and gave it an 8 out of 10. She was surprised that the couscous was cold, but it was still good. And the lamb was nice and tender.